An appeals court in Arizona (USA) stipulated this Friday that doctors who perform abortions in the state cannot be criminalized under a mid-19th century law that prohibits the procedure in practically all cases.
In a ruling, the judges explained that, by balancing the 1864 law with more recent regulations governing the termination of pregnancy, health professionals who perform the procedure should not be prosecuted by the state.
Thus, the ruling gives providers in the southern state some breathing space, preventing them from facing legal charges, but it doesn’t entirely repel the enforcement of the century-old law.
“Our resolution clarifies that the statuses can be reconciled so that doctors can perform abortions” under a more modern law that allows the procedure before 15 weeks, but “not be prosecuted under the regulations” of the 19th century, they wrote. the judges of the court of appeals in the ruling.
The case stems from a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood, the largest network of sexual and reproductive health clinics in the US, which welcomed the decision but assured that its legal fight has not ended.
“Stopping the (Arizona) attorney general’s efforts to impose a near-total ban on abortion in the state has been a hard-fought victory, but we won’t be fooled: we know the job is not done,” said Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO executive of the organization in a statement.
Courts in the state have blocked the enforcement of the more restrictive law, which the state government hoped would go into effect after the US Supreme Court in June struck down the “Roe v. Wade” ruling that had protected the right to law since 1973. right of pregnant people to choose.
The law prohibits abortions in all cases except those in which the life of the mother is in danger.
Since the Supreme Court decision, several GOP-controlled states have passed or reinstated anti-abortion laws.
In mid-September, the West Virginia state legislature outlawed abortion in almost all cases, with exceptions only in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger.
Until then, abortion had been legal in West Virginia up to twenty weeks gestation.
The state – one of the most conservative in the country – thus became the second to prohibit abortion by law since the US Supreme Court revoked in June the ruling “Roe v. Wade” that since 1973 protected the right of the woman to choose
In August, Indiana – also under Republican control – was the first state to take this step.
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